La Trobe University a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia has distributed AUD 12 Million (INR 60 crores) to support its students in the current Covid-19 emergency. This is in addition to La Trobe’s normal scholarships and support. To ensure students have the maximum opportunity to start their study in 2020 La Trobe has also introduced more flexible online study options for prospective students and created additional start dates.
COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on educational delivery, and the wider impact remains uncertain. According to Vice-Chancellor and President of La Trobe University Professor John Dewar AO, the University’s main priority has been to provide quality education while ensuring the wellbeing of its students, staff and partners.
La Trobe was amongst the first Australian universities to ‘pause’ teaching activities to ensure that the right decisions were made on how to best deliver quality education. The first step was to migrate courses and Student Services online where student can continue their studies by attending classes online with similar support from academic and engagements with academics and fellow students.
To further support our students, La Trobe has taken many initiatives. La Trobe has introduced terms alongside our semesters. Each term is six weeks in length, which provides three possible start dates for students in the second half of 2020. This means that students can start their study doing two subjects in a six week term, offering the most flexibility for students who need to start later or take fewer subjects in each teaching period. This also provides the best chance for smooth entry to university study, helping students to remain on track to complete their degree on time. Courses in Business, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Public Health and Biotechnology will be offered online in terms this year. The University has as its absolute priority the health and safety of our students, and so our courses and most subjects will continue to be delivered online until the University is allowed to resume face to face delivery. Subjects available fully online will continue to be delivered online until the end of the relevant
term. In addition, we have introduced a flexible refund policy to support recruitment of students enrolling in online subjects, including full refunds for withdrawals before census date.
In order to support students, La Trobe has launched a new suite of scholarships and expanded eligibility criteria for existing scholarships. These scholarships have been confirmed for the upcoming intakes including for students commencing online. These scholarships are up to 30% of the entire tuition fee of the program.
La Trobe has committed over $12m to support its students during these exceptional times, including an
additional $2m this week. The university recognises the hardships and challenges that its students are facing because of the global virus response. This crisis has been acutely felt amongst international students. AUD 6.8million has been allocated to directly support the international students. The University, along with the rest of the sector, continue to lobby the Federal, Victorian and local governments to step up and support students, particularly international students.
